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Bob's Blog: June 2008
27 June 2008
What a week! What a fortnight! In time the reality of our soft opening will come to light!
The morning of day one, Saturday 21 June we struggled, by the afternoon we had pulled it around a bit and as the days have gone on so it has got better, and that is of course what sort openings are all about.
I now address this to all of you who came to support us on day one and since. If we failed you we are truly sorry; it was not by design or through a desire to just open the doors and get money in the till. Pryors Bank like any other business has to make a profit, but unlike most other businesses it it not the owners of the shareholders who benefit. The Beef Kitchen Ltd operates the café, and our job is to ensure that we succeed, rather than simply tick all the boxes for the supporters and backers of this new and innovative project.
With that said, we have a duty to our customers that takes priority over our desire to help former Servicemen who have hit on bad times in their lives. For if we fail you we do the same to them and I for one will not allow that to happen.
Therefore, the comments we asked for and have received have been truly welcomed, and over the next few days and weeks you will see what we do in the way of a customer service response.
Your support has been overwhelming and on behalf of my fellow Directors, our staff, and the Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation, THANK YOU.
Pryors Bank Cafe is a community cafe; there to serve and fill a role that for far too long has been missing. All Saints Church, Rev Joe, the Parish Council and all the members of the congregation have gone out of their way to welcome us. Rest assured we will only do the same. On Thursday afternoon a young man aged around 8 came up to me and said "Bob I quite like your cafe"! He had no prompting, he just came out and said it. He then ran off to join his friend climbing a tree. He has, and perhaps will never have, any idea what a wonderful compliment that was. They say out of the mouths of babes etc, well out it came and we shook hands and I thanked him for his words that made the first week so worthwhile.
Week two coming up. Do come along and introduce yourself; you will be most welcome.
Bob
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19 June 2008
Big Ben has just sounded midnight and as I write this, it is now a few seconds
into Thursday 19 June... I have just arrived home with, tucked under my arm,
the New Statesman Award for Beef Kitchen.
So first off let me say thank you, to Katie Truss who is the Fundraising
Manager at Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation for nominating Beef Kitchen, and to all
your wonderful folks who posted your comments on the Edge Awards website over
the past few months.
Our project won the Award! We were paid many compliments tonight, but echoing
in my mind were the thousands of words you all wrote in support of our
nomination.
On a day when devastating news comes from Afghanistan, it is hard to be
anything but sombre. Yet I have to be proud on behalf of what we (and I mean
all of us) have done, and will do in the future for ex-Servicemen and women.
However, I will now close and say prayers for those who 18 June 2008 will be
the day that brought sorrow once again to loving families all across our great
nation and those brave and wonderful troops in far-off lands.
Bob
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15 June 2008
What a week! Out of the blue came more donations!
Who said Friday the 13th was a bad luck day.......... once again the Chief
Executive of Sir Oswald Stoll called to give me the news that a new donor had
agreed to provide a large sum of money for this project, along with a strong
possibility of producing a combined plan, to see our apprentices completing the
NVQ's and going on to full time employment.
The Guards and Calvary Club held their Waterloo
ball last night and made the Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation their chosen charity.
Profits from the ticket sales and auction are going to support the Pryors Bank
Café project. I thank them, but the real way for me and all of us to say thank
you, is to make the project a true success.
I have just finished my 100th checklist of jobs to do before Thursday next
week. Gladly the list has reduced, but we are now close to the end of the begging!
In time, I am sure that with the benefit of hindsight, we will look back and
ask how, 'but we will never look back and say why'...
Bob
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12 June 2008
A near full week has gone by and we have been very busy, starting with the
final approval from the local authority to go ahead and fit our extractor
equipment. We cleaned the café after the builders left and it will happen two
more times before we open on 21 June.
We have also produced a Junior Menu that is full of fun and good food for the
little ones including one of my favourites, Jam sandwiches! The soft launch
menu will now go up next week. The furniture arrived today; we will sort it all
out tomorrow but it looks fab. The signs are on their way, the leaflets are
done, Parasols agreed, the Menu is complete, our team is working well, the
church are giving out a thousand leaflets on Sunday...
We had quite a few visitors in the café this week; we have given out a few
drinks and a lot of local people are now talking about Pryors Bank and
snatching a look inside. Angelo, our café Manage has gone into 5th gear...
We have now selected our bread and cake supplier, however after a few weeks we
intend to bake some of our own as well, once we have settled the kitchen
equipment in and get to know it better.
Thanks,
Bob
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7 June 2008
The sun was out this morning as we had a meeting on the terrace and coffee,
went over the menu with two of our valued supporters and the Angelo our café
manger and Tim our head chef.
The food on offer at Pryors Bank is vital, and we need to get the correct
balance between the café, its location and the local competition, keeping in
mind always that our apprentices have to accomplish goals to achieve their NVQs
and providing food to you, our new customers, that keeps keep you coming back
for more.
Bob
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6 June 2008
The red light turned to amber, a hiss of steam, then the anxious look on
Angelo's face turned to a smile and he presented me with our first Pryors Bank
Café coffee.....at last we are almost there. 15 months since our first meeting
with the vicar of All Saints Church, the Reverend Joe Hawes and my somewhat
tender and hopeful request to be added to the tender list to become the café
operator.
Joe Hawes gently remarked that we would need to think about that a bit more as
a large investment would be required; little did he or we know then, how much
'large' would turn out to be.
Seeing our brand new coffee machine in place and working, spurred on a renewed
vigor to get this café open, as strange as it may sound this was the most
'agreeable' of days. Angelo our General Manager and Tim have only known each
for two months, but on this day, I saw two professionals working together as
one; in truth that was always a concern for me. However today I was delighted
to see these two key team members 'click' in such away that gave me huge
confidence that our team selections were spot on. (And all that without Sir
Alan).
Rick Brunwin the CEO of the Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation telephoned me with
great news today, a new donation has been announced! We are not able to say
anymore but the amount is significant and will help towards our budget over
spend.
For a week that started tough, got harder, then saw results, it has ended with
fantastic news.
Bob
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5 June 2008
When, by comparison to the public at large, you have little or nothing of
substance and all that is left is your pride and self worth, every refusal is
like a slap in the face. After a while the face gets tougher and you expect
nothing, but the hurt, just like long-term pain becomes manageable. That is
when you stop asking and expecting; you take life as it is, get on, and do the
best you can to survive. If you are lucky sometimes you get a break, and along
comes a chance to change yourself, your future or indeed your luck.
Right now two men are about to sample the feeling of luck. Our Chef Tim and I
have seized the Pryors Bank opportunity with both hands and as a result of our
belief we can, for the first time in a very long while, see a future.
The people behind this project want all who come into contact with Pryors Bank
to understand we did not just want a café. We wanted to find or join in a
vision of hope that is realistic.
At this moment in time we need to raise additional funding for Pryors Bank Café
to open successfully. Unlike before when we relied upon a few supporters, we
want to invite you all to join in and help us.
Katie Truss, the Fundraising Manager for the Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation along
with Pete Townley, the Pryors Bank Café Training Officer will shortly be in
touch of you who have been kind enough to register your interest in Pryors Bank
and the Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation.
If you would like to become a Friend of Pryors Bank Café and help in whatever
way seems right for you, then let us know by emailing Katie at katie.truss@oswaldstoll.org.uk.
She can then explain in more detail about what the project needs and how you
can help.
We are now on the downward curve of building activity at the café. Some of our
new staff will arrive in the morning for an induction, then we have lots to do
with regard to letting the local business and café users in Fulham know that we
are soon to open the doors of Pryors Bank Café.
The first of our Menus is now up on the site for your comments, which will be
welcomed and very helpful.
Bob
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2 June 2008
8am meeting at Pryors Bank went well, in as much as there was no bad news or
any more huge sums of money to find, for today at least....
The Menu
There have been lots of thoughts about this subject, and who has not been
eating in an establishment and thought "if it were mine, what I would do
is this..." Our Chef Tim is a great one for reading recipe books, and to
be truthful I have caught the bug too.
Our football menu at the Beef Kitchen has gone down a treat and our fear is that café one will be a tougher nut to crack. Shortly we will publish our menu on the website for your comments, which will be interesting for us anyway; I do hope that those of you who read this will give us your feedback, no pun intended.
Writing this blog may be harder once we open so I was thinking to day that I might put up a horoscope for star signs. You now the sort of thing: "if you are a Leo it will be a good day to eat beef", or "if you are Scorpio you may like to sting a local government official".
However, I will have to leave the stars for now and get back to matters at hand....We have a big day tomorrow; all the Board Members are coming to Pryors Bank for a pre-soft launch meeting, so we have lots to do in the morning to make sure we can answer the questions that will come thick and fast.
Bye for now
Bob